Thoughts on the military and military activities of a diverse nature. Free-ranging and eclectic.

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Traitors IV.

This is coolbert:

American traitors.

During World War Two [WW2], there were Americans who DID collaborate with the enemy, and persons who were convicted of collaboration.

Keep in mind with regard to this blog, that William Joyce, the Englishman hung for treason, solely was guilty of making propaganda broadcasts for the Nazis. And that John Amery, was also found guilty in part for making similar broadcasts as well. Amery's fate was also to be hung for treason.

Two Americans during WW2 gained infamy for their propaganda broadcasts on behalf of the Axis powers.

One such person was Ezra Pound.

Pound at the time was considered to be the greatest expert in the world on poetry, and was also himself a poet of great repute. Pound lived for many years prior to the war the life of the genteel bohemian expatriate in Italy, leading a secure and leisurely lifestyle. Pound was also enamored of fascism and Mussolini in particular, and did have an antipathy for Jews. Residing securely in Italy all during the war, Pound did make propaganda broadcasts for the Italian fascists, broadcasts that usually derided at length the Jews and Jewish culture in general. Upon his capture by U.S. forces at the end of the war, Pound was placed in a tiger cage [exactly what it is, a cage that a circus would have for caging and keeping tigers in], and exposed outdoors to the full force of the elements for forty days [Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness, Ezra did too]. At the end of this time, Pound had become mentally deranged and was a babbling idiot. Returned to the U.S. to stand trial, Pound was found to be insane to the point of being found unfit to stand trial. Locked away for a number of years in a mental institution, Pound never did regain full use of his mental faculties and was regarded as a pathetic demented figure!

The other person who made propaganda broadcasts for the Axis powers [in this case Japan] during WW2 is the infamous "Tokyo Rose", Iva Toguri.

Some "experts" contend that Tokyo Rose was a myth, no such person existed. And there is some [but not substantial] credence to this argument. No single woman making propaganda broadcasts from Japan during the war referred to herself as Tokyo Rose. However, there were a number of women who did make propaganda broadcasts from Japan, all American English speakers, and these women were generally referred to as "Tokyo Rose" by the listeners [American GI's]. [Iva Toguri called herself "Annie" during the broadcasts that she made.]

At the end of the war, Iva was captured by U.S. forces, returned to the U.S. [she was a natural born citizen, born and raised in the U.S., in Japan at the outbreak of the war as she was tending to a sick relative], tried, convicted and sent to prison. Iva's defense was she made the broadcasts, yes, but under duress. She was forced. According to Iva, she was brought into a broadcast studio against her will and told to make the propaganda broadcasts. Refusing to do so, Iva related that, "An American soldier was brought into the studio, made to kneel, and a Japanese officer put a gun to American soldiers head and threatened to shoot him right there and then if I did not make the broadcasts. So I did."

Having served her sentence, Iva married a man named Aquino, moved to CHICAGO, where she lived until her death, operating a novelty shop specializing in Japanese imports. AND, for many years, her shop sponsored a Japanese language radio broadcast called the "Sakura Hour". [Iva never did seem to get away from the radio, did she??!!]. In 1977 Iva received a full pardon and exoneration from President Ford, her conviction being rendered null and void!